The Brain Watkins Garden - Rosa banksiae 'Lutea'

Rosa banksiae ‘Lutea’ in Brain Watkins garden

In 1824 the yellow Banksia rose was introduced to England by the plant collector J.D Parks via plants collected from the Calcutta Botanic Garden. The rose originated in the central and western provinces of China and for many centuries was grown there as an amenity garden plant. It was named for Lady Dorothea Banks, wife of Sir Joseph Banks, the eighteenth century botanist who sailed with Captain Cook on the Endeavour and became President of the Royal Society and ex officio director at Kew Gardens. It was reputed to be the first yellow climbing rose to flower in Britain.

Close up of flowers

‘Lutea’ was fully hardy, tolerant to warmer temperatures and soon migrated from Kew Gardens to rose collections throughout the world, including New Zealand. The William Hayes Nursery in Nelson listed both the white and yellow varieties of the banksia rose in their 1860 nursery catalogue.

Rosa banksiae ‘Lutea’ is a thornless rambling rose with small glossy toothed leaves and sprays of hanging double yellow flowers reputably with a scent reminiscent of violets. The majority of blossoms appear in spring to early summer and last three to four weeks before falling.

One of the resident doves

It is not known when this rose was planted in the Brain Watkins House garden, however the diameter of the trunk suggests it was some decades ago. The flowers attract bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects, and its tangled mass of branches form a safe habitat for birds in the garden.

The blackbird’s nest

In the spring of 2018, a female blackbird built a nest within the rose canopy. Larger branches provided the supporting foundation framework for her nest. Constructed with plant fibres, moss, string and small strips of plastic, the  nest was skilfully lined with dried mud. One chick successfully fledged.

Alf Rendell 1917-2019

Alf sharing some history with me, 6 December 2019
Image Fiona Kean

It wouldn’t be overstating it to say that Alf Rendell is a legend in this town. Like many people I had heard about Alf and his photographs long before we met. At our first introduction he gently explained that I had confused some of my facts about a photo from the Tauranga Heritage Collection printed in the Weekend Sun. Of course, he was right and over the years I, and many others, have had numerous occasions to be grateful for his amazing memory and his knowledge of Tauranga. Only three weeks ago I had an enquiry from a teacher at Pillans Point asking for help with research on street names around her school. Asking Alf was my starting point, as it often was, and his recollection of a Captain Good was all that was needed to unravel the meaning behind some of the names.

However, it wasn’t Alf’s great memory, and the fact that he had witnessed many of the changes and developments Tauranga experienced over the past 100 years, that made him a legend. There was so much more to Alf than his age. Alf was always positive, incredibly generous and seemed to lack the ability to say no. Alf told me that he once got a call from a regular customer at 2am in the morning asking him to drive to Te Puna to take photographs of a party in full swing.  I said, “surely there was no way you would have driven to Te Puna at that time of night.” Alf simply replied, “you don’t turn down business and he was a good customer.”

Alf Rendell in front of one of his images inside a new buildings on The Strand, Tauranga, October 2018
Image Fiona Kean

These qualities combined with the fact that he absolutely loved Tauranga meant he gave so much to his town. After the war and as a young business owner running the camera shop on Devonport Road, photographing weddings and spending nights operating a movie projector he had for hire, Alf somehow found time to take to the air and capture the photographs we used in his book Rendell’s Tauranga.

And perhaps for many, it is his photographic legacy that he will be best remembered. When Rendell’s Tauranga was published in 2015 the response was over whelming. He was “tickled pink” that so many people were able to connect with his photographs and more importantly for Alf, with where they lived. Thanks to the Legacy Trust the Toi Ohomai Alf Rendell photographic scholarship, which resulted from sales of the book, made Alf so proud and he really enjoyed meeting the recipients of the scholarship and attending their prize givings. Indeed, making money from his photographs was never a consideration and he generously gave copies of his images to both the Tauranga Heritage Collection and the Tauranga City Library.

Toi Ohomai Prizegiving Alf Rendell Photographic Scholarship, 2017
Image Fiona Kean

His generosity wasn’t limited to Tauranga. Just when I thought I’d seen all of Alf’s images a few months ago he pulled out photographs of Tongatapu taken while stationed on the island during WWII. He wanted the images to go home and as Alf’s luck would have it, the first public library in Tonga opened in October and we were able to reunite printed and digital copies with the descendants of those he photographed all those years ago.

Alf once told me he was born with a caul, a piece of thin membrane over his face. He explained that this was quite rare and considered a sign of good fortune.  I felt like I understood him a little better that day. Alf wasn’t just a positive person but lived with a sense of gratitude, believing that his life was blessed. He expressed thanks for the people who loved him and joy for the opportunities he was given, and he gave so much in return.

Tauranga Representatives

Tauranga Representatives, c. 1898
Mounted albumen print by F.W. Edwards, Auckland
Image courtesy of Tauranga Heritage Collection, Ref. 0104/10

This team photograph is of Tauranga’s rugby representatives and although it is not dated it is likely to have been taken around 1898 as many of the players are mentioned in reports of rugby matches in the Bay of Plenty Times.

The names listed are (left to right):
(Standing, Back row) S. Darragh (Wing Forward), A. King (Forward), A. Mathias (Wing Forward), D. Brown (Forward), G. Brown (Forward), Taikato (Forward)
(Seated, Middle Row) Mr C. Hulme (Hon. Sec.), A. Matheson (Threequarter), J. Jordan (Forward), I. Vercoe, Capt. (Five-Eighths), D. Thom (Threequarter), J. Cook (Half-back), W. Darragh (Line Umpire)
(Seated, Front Row) H. Asher (Forward), J. Peter (Forward), Kauku (Forward), R. Hoyte (Full-Back).

John Welsh, Photographer and Impresario

Ocean Beach, The Mount, Tauranga. Mirrielees No. 39. Welsh Photo.
Glass plate negative, Tauranga City Libraries Image Collection

In the Tauranga Library’s collection of glass plates are a series which appear to be the original negatives for a series of postcards published as the Mirrielees Series, well known amongst local deltiologists, which record various scenes and events in and around Tauranga from the late 1910s to 1920s. A.J. Mirrielees was a chemist who arrived in Tauranga from Johnsonville in October 1910, where he purchased R.J. Allely’s pharmaceutical business. He operated first from temporary premises in Devonport Road, then on the Strand, for almost two decades but, although he sold cameras and photographic equipment throughout this period, there is little direct evidence in the local newspapers of his photographic output. A number of the Mirrielees Series postcards, such as this view of people frolicking in the surf at Ocean Beach, Mount Maunganui, also have the inscription “Welsh Photo.”

S.S. Ngakuta clearing the Tauranga Heads, View from the Mount. Mirrielees Series 31.
Glass plate negative, attributed to J. Welsh, Tauranga City Libraries Image Collection

There are other glass plates carrying Mirrielees’ name which, on further research, seem likely to have been taken by Welsh too. So who was the enigmatic Mr Welsh? John Welsh was born in 1891 in California and arrived in New Zealand around 1902, presumably with his family. His first appearance as a photographer was an advertisement in the Te Puke Times from November 1916 until February 1917 announcing his willingness to pay visits “to any part of the District.” His burgeoning career was then interrupted by his service in England and France with the 1st Battalion, Auckland Regiment during the War.

Ocean Beach, Mount Maunganui. Welsh Photo.
Glass plate negative, Tauranga City Libraries Image Collection

Returning home after his discharge in July 1919, Welsh reopened the studio next to McDowell’s Hall, Main Street, Te Puke offering “photography in all its branches,” with “photos of live stock a speciality” as well as picture framing. He operated the Alma Studio from the Alliance Hall, Te Puke from October till December 1920, but it seems unlikely that there was enough business to keep him occupied locally. He took a series of ten views in Katikati in 1921 and 1922, and was on hand when an aeroplane arrived to give joy rides at the Mount in April 1922. He was probably the photographer responsible for No. 48 in the Mirrielees Series, the well known photo of the Peace Monument erected on the summit of Mauao in 1920.

S.S. Maindy Court 7.700 tons & H.M.S. Veronica in Tauranga Harbour (Oct 1922) Welsh Photo
Glass plate negative, Tauranga City Libraries Image Collection

When the S.S. Maindy Court and H.M.S. Veronica paid visits to Tauranga Harbour in October 1922 as a result of significant development of the port, Welsh was on hand to record their arrivals. Then in September 1923 he opened the New Strand Studio in Tauranga, taking portraits on Fridays and Saturdays, specializing in children’s portraits. With his brother Paul he took a lease on the Town Hall in April 1923, operating it as the Cozy Pictures Opera House, presenting films, dances and orchestral entertainment until June 1925, when the business was sold as a going venture to Mr F. Fowler.

View of Mount Railway Workshops from Haymarket Stores. Welsh Photo
Republished as Christmas Greetings card by Frank Duncan & Co., Auckland
Glass plate negative, Tauranga City Libraries Image Collection

The burgeoning Mount railway workshops also merited a series of views in the early 1920s, including some deemed worthy of republication as greetings cards.

John Welsh was a keen cricketer and became a devotee of motorcycle-riding, a pursuit which was accompanied by some misfortune. When he knocked over a pedestrian in Spring Street in 1920, it turned out to be attorney F.W. Shortland, who pursued him vigorously in court. Five years later, in October 1925, he was involved in a collision with another motorcycle on the Te Aroha traffic bridge which luckily resulted in neither serious damage to the bikes or more than light injury to the drivers.

Opening of the Ongatoro (Te Tumu/Kaituna) Cut, Maketu, 3 Nov 1927
Auckland Weekly News, 17 Nov 1927, Photograph by John Welsh
Image courtesy of the Auckland Library Heritage Collection, Ref. AWNS-19271117-37-1

It appears that Welsh may have moved away from Tauranga around this time, and was certainly living in Te Aroha in 1929. He became an intermittent contributor to the Auckland Weekly News, recording local events in widely flung locations around the North Island:

•    Oct 1926 – Consecration of St Mark’s Anglican Church, Te Aroha
•    Dec 1926 – Show at Te Aroha
•    3 Nov 1927 – Opening of the Kaituna Channel, Maketu
•    Nov 1928 – East Coast Railway construction, Waiora-Napier
•    Jan, Jul & Nov 1929 – Hydroelectric scheme construction, Lake Waikaremoana
•    Jan 1930 – Railway Bridge construction, Wairoa & Harbour development, Waikokopu
•    Sep 1931 – Port reconstruction after the earthquake, Napier

John Welsh died at Rocky Bay, Waiheke Island in 1964.

The provenance of the glass plate negatives has been deduced from records in the Tauranga Library collection. They appear to have arrived in the library’s collection in 1975 by former Tauranga chemist Leslie Woods, originally as a loan, but later probably ended up as a donation. Woods had taken over Captain Mirrielees’ pharmacy in 1929, and almost certainly inherited the glass plates along with the business.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to staff at Tauranga Library, including the library’s former Heritage Specialist Stephanie Smith, for facilitating access to the glass plate negatives and helping to unearth information relating to them.

References

Auckland Library Photographers Database http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/dbtw-wpd/photographers/basic_search.htm
Auckland Weekly News, in Auckland Library Heritage Images http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/dbtw-wpd/heritageimages/index.htm
Papers Past (Te Puke Times, Bay of Plenty Times) https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers
Glass Plate Collection, Ngā Wāhi Rangaha, Tauranga Library
Various registers, newspaper cuttings and letters, Tauranga Library vertical files
WWI Nominal Rolls and Service Records, Ancestry.com
The Port of Tauranga, by Barbara Oram, in Tauranga 1882-1982: The Centennial of Gazetting Tauranga as a Borough, Bellamy, A.C. (ed.) (1982), Tauranga City Council, p. 232-238.

The Bungalow

A bungalow can be described as a single-storied house with a sloping roof, often surrounded by a veranda. The name derives from a Hindi word ‘bangla’ meaning “a house in the Bengali style,” and came into English during the era of the British administration of India.

California bungalows, Alameda, 2016. Photo Shirley Arabin

The 20th century bungalow became a popular house style in North America, Australia and New Zealand. It could be built of timber, plaster, brick, stucco or stone or a mixture of them all. The roof generally sits at a lower angle than the preceding villa style, and roof framing could be exposed at the eaves. Windows were smaller and hinged rather than hung sashes. The big bay window at the front was modified and often curved and clad in shingles on the exterior and inside a window seat. The shingles were very much an expression of its American roots. Decorative touches emerged from the British Arts and Crafts movement and from the American west.

Californian bungalow, Berkeley.  Photo DJ Grubb

The essence of the bungalow in New Zealand was the low roofline and the deep verandahs. There was a move away from the over decoration of the Victorian villa into a plainer and more practical style. In Britain a bungalow was usually a one story seaside house expressing the Arts and Crafts style, while in America it is known as a Craftsman house and often two storied, but the relationship still existed in the different locations. The roof and verandah were supported at the front of the house by sturdy piers of timber and often stone. Lead lights and stained glass featured in the windows and the interiors frequently had substantial varnished timber panelling in the major rooms, with plaster ceilings divided by boards. Door plates and handles could be copper or bronze in Art Nouveau or Art Deco motifs, and a copper hood over an open fire could be another feature. Modern facilities like electric power and indoor plumbing improved on the simpler villas. In Australia the Federation houses incorporated the bungalow style, generally with more decoration on gables and roof lines. The extent of the decoration depended on the original price of the house.

Fairview, Matheson homestead, Otumoetai. Photo Gainfort collection

A good example of a Tauranga Arts and Crafts house, Fairview the home of the late Alister Matheson in Matua was demolished some years ago. Alister's grandfather, Robert Matheson, made three purchases of land on the site of Ōtūmoetai Pā and established a 123 acre block. The Pā was originally part of the Tauranga land raupatu (confiscation) by the Government following the Tauranga battles of the New Zealand Wars in 1864, and the Matheson homestead was built in the 1920s.

The farm extended from the seashore to Otumoetai road, and the boundary with the Tollemache farm. In 1999 Alister Matheson received the Tauranga Heritage Award for his contributions to preserving and documenting Tauranga's history. He was a prolific writer for the Historic Review, The Bay of Plenty Historic Journal and published two books. The remnants of Fairview were sold to the Tauranga City Council in 2004 and became the Otumoetai Pa Historic Reserve.

Mr D G Jack's house , The Camp, Tauranga. Feb 1922. Photo Brain Watkins House Collection

 Sources

Stock N & Reynolds P, Bungalow: from heritage to contemporary, Random House NZ. 2014
http://tauranga.kete.net.nz/tauranga_local_history/topics/show/1088-alister-hugh-matheson-1925-2011

Note (27 Jan 2020): This article has been amended to reflect that the Otumoetai Pā was not deserted after the New Zealand Wars in 1864, but that it formed part of the raupatu (confiscation) by the Government following the Tauranga battles.

Fascinating Aerial Photo from 1972

Image courtesy of Tauranga Heritage Collection, Ref. N2D5F18

This fascinating aerial photograph was taken by Aero Surveys Ltd. in 1972. It shows the Council’s administration building under construction. It also reveals the size of the old Town Hall on the corner of Wharf and Willow Streets.

Sandwiched between the two buildings was the town’s library, which opened in 1930. It was later demolished along with the Town Hall. It is also interesting to note the large number of wooden houses still occupying the area at this time.